


Patience Equal Progress

by MechaMax



Category: Coraline (2009), Gravity Falls, ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multiple Crossovers, Mystery Kids, Parapines, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Build, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 17:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2858738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MechaMax/pseuds/MechaMax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Socially awkward Norman Babcock is about to start his first day of High School. His parents are skeptical and Norman is set on one thing – survival. To his surprise he befriends the one year older twins Dipper and Mabel Pines and their friends. Perhaps he can survive High School without having to be invisible after all?<br/>A story about friendship, love, family issues and being a teenager.<br/>Norman does not have the ability to see ghosts and no other characters have been on their supernatural adventures. After all, this is a High School AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patience Equal Progress

At the moment there were fifty nine posters of zombies on Norman’s walls. He had five t-shirts and eleven notebooks with zombies on them, one of them empty. There were even more zombies adorning his room in the shapes of everything from an alarm clock, figures and other collectables. He even owned a bed sheet set with zombies on them that he had used since he was a kid. His mother had never said anything about his obsession. His father on the other hand never seemed to shut up. Not to Norman's face, but sound had a tendency to travel upstairs. His parents probably didn't know, or they would try to keep their “discussions” quieter.  
“He’s never going to get friends if this continues!” his father said. His voice was deep, loud and upset.  
“You can’t change him, Perry,” his mother answered.  
“Tomorrow is his first day of High School and you’re not worried in the least?”  
“You think taking all his things away from him will make it better? It’s not going to change who he is.”  
“Please, Sandra! You can at least talk to him about it.”  
“He is his own person, Perry, and however much I wish for him to be normal his happiness is still more important to me.”  
Norman sighed.  
Every time it happened he would stand silently next to his almost shut door, arms crossed closely over his chest. It had become a routine of his. Not because he wanted to listen to his parents – no matter what they were talking about. But because he would rather know all the secrets and pretend to be ignorant than to stay up at night wondering what they were talking about.  
Norman closed his eyes. Their voices became clearer and he could see them before him as they waved their hands in the air with every comment, thinking that it made their point more valid.  
That pissed him off – a lot.  
With the back of his foot he pushed the door shut and pushed away from the wall. Heavy steps brought him over to the bed. He sat down on it and looked down at the zombie-slippers that were peeking out from under his nightstand. They were far too small for his feet now but he still kept them. There were no slippers like that for those his age or size. It didn’t matter that he was still pretty short for his age. He was still too old for it. Maybe his father was right?  
Just like that he grabbed his backpack and started digging around. He had packed it carefully just a little earlier but now he took out the notebook he had planned on using. It had been a special order and the cover was of the poster for one of his favorite movies – Night of the Living Dead.  
Maybe his father really was right? Middle School had been torture and this could be a new start. Bringing something like this might be true to himself, but who knew what kind of bullying he could fall victim to? You could only pretend to be sick for so long before your parents figured out something was wrong. Norman had learned that the hard way.  
-  
The school bell rang. People were everywhere. Even though there were a lot of new students there, Norman got the feeling that he was the only one at loss. He held onto the straps of his backpack as hard as he could as he impatiently looked around the hall.  
Pretty girls chatting and giggling, jocks pretending to be big and cool, people playing around, paper balls tossed through the air. Norman froze as a paper plane passed right by his ear and made its way down to the floor to be stepped on by the people walking by. In all honesty this was even more chaos that he had imagined. What kind of school was this?  
The school was old and had lived through several generations without anyone bothering about all the stains, holes, cracks and graffiti. Somehow the building and this chaos matched together, and the more Norman walked between classes it became more obvious.  
Throughout the first day he kept picking a seat at the back of the classroom, not saying more than he had to. That way he could blend in and didn't have to feel paranoid about spitballs. Not that he thought it would actually happen, but in Middle School he would always be seated at the back of class by the teacher in a lame attempt to stop the bullying.  
Every now and then he saw Salma in the corridor. She was one of those from Middle School that had actually been the closest thing he had gotten to a friend. They had nothing in common though, apart from one friend that had brought them together. But by the end of Middle School they would only eat lunch together out of habit and rarely found things to talk about.  
Norman never greeted her. He avoided eye contact, even in the one class they shared. Not because he meant to be rude or didn't want the comfort of a familiar face around. No, it was because of what his father had said the night before.  
Maybe his father was right? That he needed to stop being a nerd and try to be normal. Maybe then he'd actually have a friend. Again. He doubted he'd be lucky enough to find another person in such a small town that shared his interests. By avoiding Salma he thought he could force himself into finding someone else to talk to.  
Sadly that seemed impossible.  
After all, he did just sit quietly at the back of the classroom. You didn't get to know people by being quiet. And so the day continued just like that. Norman simply sitting through lectures. Hour after hour of class. No one spoke to him. As he was walking down the corridor on his way to the classroom for History he found himself thinking that maybe he should just talk to Salma the next time he saw her. Talking to anyone seemed out of reality, at least today.  
Tightening the grip on the straps of his backpack, Norman took a determined breath.  
Alone would protect him.  
But then that happened.  
Norman walked through the open door to History class and was met by giggles and laughs as well as a fake, deep voice. Attention was at the front of the classroom so no one noticed Norman as he walked in at the back of the room.  
Insecure enough, Norman quickly went back outside to check the number on the door and the instruction on the paper.  
Right number, right door.  
Weird.  
Norman went back inside. His eyes got stuck at the front of the classroom as he slowly made his way to the closest bench at the back of the room, right by the door. As he dropped his bag on the floor, laughter erupted from his classmates.  
In front of the blackboard stood a boy with brown, curly hair. His upper lip was adorned by a badly colored paper mustache. He was the source of the deep, fake voice. With hands in the air, creating exaggerated gestures, he was stating facts about history that was obviously not true.  
Some girls in the front seemed to find it extremely funny as they had not stopped giggling since Norman had arrived. This seemed to encourage the guy even further, even though he seemed to be quite awkward. But Norman didn't blame them. It was funny. He couldn't help the tug at the corner of his mouth that he felt. He felt a bit silly to be grinning at the bad jokes and so he leaned forward to hide his smile with his hand.  
“... because the Doctor didn't save it.” The boy seemed really proud of himself when the girls at the front cracked and some others laughed too. Norman didn't even really get the joke but the whole performance was priceless. With a quick look at the watch on the wall the boy put his hands on his hips and looked out on the class. “Any questions?”  
“Yes.”  
Then the whole classroom froze. Even Norman. Especially Norman. The source of the strong voice that had just spoken came from right next to him. Slowly turning his head, Norman saw a pretty tall man with a mustache that was ridiculously alike the paper one on the boy at the front.  
Oh.  
“Mr. Pines.” The teacher crossed his arms while stretching his back a little. He seemed to grow even more intimidating and Norman felt bad for the funny guy.  
“Come on, Brad.” The boy's voice cracked but he tried to stay strong, smiling as he removed the paper on his upper lip. “Mr. Pines? Really? I'm your favorite student! I thought I was Dr. Fun Times!”  
The teacher moved himself from the back of the classroom up to the front. The funny guy seemed to avoid him as he moved in a circle as the teacher approached. To Norman's relief the teacher didn't seem too upset and was actually smiling as the guy seemed to grow a little nervous by the lack of answer.  
“Mr. Pines,” he finally said, slightly “matter-of-factly”, with a satisfied smirk. “The next time you decide to honor me with an impression, the least you can do is some research. I’m from Dallas, not some farm on the Mississippi countryside. Please do my accent some justice in the future.”  
As the classroom filled with giggle, Norman couldn't help but think that the boy had actually done a pretty good expression of this guy. Exaggerating the accent was a pretty common trick to enhance the performance. Perhaps that was why Norman didn't even smile, unlike the rest of the classroom. Instead his gaze followed the boy whose cheeks where getting a crimson shade as he subtly tried to sneak away.  
“We will start in three minutes,” the teacher explained as he turned his attention to the desk and started going about his own business. The boy took his chance to escape without much attention. Except for a pair of blue eyes that were locked on him. Norman's eyes.  
Then it happened. The moment that changed Norman's High School life. Had Norman not been seated at the end of the row at that time, right by the door, his High School years would have turned out very differently.  
The funny guy apparently called “Pines” noticed Norman and his staring just a meter in front of his desk. Their gazes met and he slowed down when he came up to Norman's desk. Norman held his breath as the boy forced a smile at him through his embarrassed composure and whispered:  
“Ask him about the 8½ president if you want an easy lesson.” With that weird comment he straightened his back, looked down at Norman who just stared blankly back at him. Pines shook his head with a smile as he continued moving, letting his hand pass over the top of Norman's hair, that as always was standing straight up. “Cool hair ,” he said with a lopsided smile.  
Norman kept his eyes locked on the guy until he had disappeared through the door and closed it behind him. He was the first one to notice Norman all day. It felt nice. Special. It was a bit embarrassing to admit it, but he couldn't help it. When the lesson started he couldn't stop smiling.  
-  
Norman never did ask about the 8½ president. Something like that was weird. There was no such thing as a 8½ president so asking about it was weird. Norman didn't enjoy the idea of the attention he might attract. No matter how curious he was it just wasn't worth it to find out what it was about. Instead he settled for a mental note to ask Pines if they would happen to meet during the rest of the day.  
After History class was lunch. Long awaited and a moment of peace. At least that was the plan until he saw the cafeteria. Considering the chaos that was the halls during recess he had no idea why he would expect anything else during lunch.  
For a second he thought about turning around and skipping lunch. Then he spotted a ponytail in the cafeteria line and sneaked his way over there as quickly as he could. He grabbed a tray and stood behind the blonde flood of hair.  
“Courtney,” he said with a relieved tone in his voice. For a second he felt safe. After all the strangers it felt nice to talk to his big sister. Until she turned around, saw him and rolled her eyes. It was pretty clear that she wasn’t pleasantly surprised to see that it was her little brother standing behind her.  
“Hi,” she said with a quick wave of her hand in an act to pretend that she wasn't about to completely ignore him. Courtney knew too well that if Norman told their parents that she had been rude or mean during his first day of school she would be in big trouble. “I would ask you how your first day of school is but I’m kind of busy,” she said quickly with a not-so-sincere smile before turning away, back to a girl with long, ginger hair.  
It wasn't very unexpected, but Courtney had promised their parents three times that she would help Norman if he needed anything during school. Promising that had saved her trash-duty. In other words, if Norman really wanted to he could force her to talk to him and let him sit with her.  
But he didn't.  
Forcing her into that would just label him as some needy and annoying little brother amongst the older students. He didn't want that. Being in different years didn't stop bullying.  
With food on his tray Norman turned around to face the crowded room. Once more he was struck by the urge to just leave. There were no completely empty tables and Norman didn't really know what table it would be safe to join. Even the kindest looking people could be foul.  
Even through the ocean of students he managed to spot Salma. Her dark attire and big glasses stood out next to the people at her table. Feeling as if he had no choice, Norman began heading in her direction. It was the safest table he could think of. Before he got all the way over there Salma and two others in her company grabbed their trays and left.  
Damn.  
Norman was lost in an ocean and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could swim. A sort of panic started to grow in his body and spread from his stomach to his fingertips. The tray felt heavy and he was thinking of just leaving it on the nearest table and go hide in a toilet stall until the next class. But just as he turned to put down the tray he saw something – or rather someone.  
Pines! The funny boy from earlier. The only one who had actually spoken to him during the whole day.  
Would it be okay? Norman asked himself. Before he had even answered his own question he found himself walking closer. It was a round table close to the wall. Next to Pines sat a girl. Four empty seats apart from that. It would be okay right?  
The girl was smiling brightly while talking about something. The boy seemed distracted as his gaze was turned down at a book on the table while stuffing his mouth with food, chewing slowly. It seemed descent enough. The girl seemed really friendly. It would be okay, even if he only asked to sit at the table right? They wouldn't even need to talk. It was just something.  
Then suddenly Norman noticed that he had been staring. Not in a normal way, not that his gaze just happened to be directed at them. No, he had been staring as if he was analyzing them into every least detail. The girl had noticed. She had the exact same, dark eyes as the guy next to her. The same type of brown curls... Siblings?  
The whole thing was awkward. Norman was just about to turn away and pretend that he had never intended to ask them or anything, merely a few meters away from them, when the girl gave him a huge grin. She raised her arm and soon she was pointing at Norman, not so very discretely. She used the elbow on her other arm to get the attention from Pines and he slowly raised his gaze.  
Shit.  
Norman closed his eyes. He was going to sink through the floor. He was sure he could do it! His grandmother had told him that if you wanted something really hard then that would happen in one way or another.  
It turned out that Norman wasn’t so lucky. When he opened his eyes he was still in the ocean of students and he was still facing the table with the two brown haired students. But perhaps it wasn’t all bad. The girl was waving for him to come closer and it was all that he needed. His feet brought him over and he hesitated by the table with his tray in a firm grip.  
“Hello, there,” the girl said. She had a broad smile that flashed all her teeth and showed off colorful braces.  
“Hi,” Norman said to his own surprise. His voice was weak and very much unmanly, but at least he had spoken. The fact that he had done it without thinking made his lips curve into a slight smile.  
“You’re a freshman, right? Just sit with us. It’s always hard the first days. Right, Dipper?”  
Oh! Dipper Pines. Norman had to fight the muscles in his face to stop himself from grinning at the discovery of such an odd name.  
Dipper looked up. He had some pasta stuck to his fork that looked like it was about to fall off any second. Dipper noticed that and turned his attention back to it. As he continued to eat without a word or even a smile, the girl seemed to get irritated and showed it by shoving her elbow to his guts.  
“Dipper.” She said it in the manner that meant that he would be in trouble if he didn't do as she wanted.  
He looked up again, locking eyes with Norman who was still awkwardly standing with his tray in a tight grip. Was he staring? Was it weird? Would Dipper Pines be okay with this?  
“Yeah, whatever, it's fine with me.” He averted his eyes and turned his attention back to the book.  
Okay. That was weird. Perhaps he didn't recognize Norman from earlier?  
“Come on, sit down!”  
The girl seemed so encouraging while the boy was discouraging. Norman couldn't help but feel as if he was interrupting them with his mere presence, but didn't bother too much. He was just glad that he didn't have to eat alone. With a faint smile he put the tray on the table and sat down on the opposite side of the boy and girl.  
“I thought you knew him!” the girl suddenly exclaimed and both Norman and Dipper turned their gazes at her. “What's with you acting so rudely?”  
“What? No!” The boy smashed the book close. “I said I recognized him. I think I saw him earlier. 'S all.”  
“What's the difference?” The girl shrugged. “If you keep at that you'll never make friends of your own.”  
“Please, Mabel, I have friends!”  
Norman was quietly watching as the two argued. For every sentence that was exchanged the feeling of them being siblings seemed to grow stronger. The presumed brother was blushing badly while getting a quick look at Norman who just sat silently. When their gazes met for a split second Norman pretended that to eat. Or well, he did eat. It was lunch and he was hungry. But he used it as an excuse to look away and pretend that he had not at all been staring.  
“You haven't made a single one by yourself. They're my friends that you're borrowing them!” The girl, apparently named Mabel, was smiling brightly. It seemed more like she was teasing the guy. “This guy can be your first actual friend. Hey, what's your name?”  
Silence fell until Norman realized that he was the only potential friend at that table. With slow movements he looked up, catching the brown eyes of the girl as he lowered the fork and swallowed the food in his mouth.  
“Um, Norman.” Wow, he couldn't even sound confident when speaking his own name.  
Both Dipper and Mabel looked at Norman with the same type of expression in their faces. Yeah, they were definitely siblings. Which brought Norman to wonder why the hell they were staring at him with such wide eyes.  
“Norman?” Mabel asked. Norman nodded.  
“Great,” Dipper rolled his eyes.  
Norman was really confused at this point. Mabel seemed to notice as her hand went up and she playfully slapped her probably-brother on his shoulder. He gave her a quick, stern look before turning his gaze to his book as if he decided to just simply ignore his table mates.  
“Sorry for my sarcastic brother.” Norman made winning gestures in his head. “I kind of dated this guy named Norman a while back.”  
“And he was the most horrible shit ever.”  
“Dipper!”  
The guy got slapped at the back of his head this time.  
“He was sweet, okay? But he was... how should I say this, well, not really what I thought he was.”  
Norman managed to catch sight of Dipper who rolled his eyes again as he was staring at the book. Most probable was that he was rolling them at his sister, not the book.  
“Oh!” Norman's gaze was quickly brought back to Mabel who suddenly slammed her hands at the table. “Where are my manners?” She giggled playfully. “My name's Mabel! Wow, sorry. Totally didn't mean to tell you about Norman. But hey, you're probably a lot cooler!”  
Oh, if Mabel only knew how wrong she was. Unless cool could be translated into Zombie-geek. It probably didn't.  
“This is my baby bro Dipper.”  
As if on cue, the brother gave his sister a stern look. “Twin brother,” he corrected.  
“I'm still older.”  
Beep beep.  
The electronic sound of a text being received cut off the conversation. The girl grabbed her phone that was lying on top of the table while Dipper went back to eating and resting his eyes at the book. For a minute or two, silence occupied the table. Norman didn't complain. There was a lot to take in so to be able to concentrate on his food was a nice change from looking between the two.  
When the text had been answered with a loud sigh the girl returned her attention to Norman. She talked to him calmly, just asking about his school day and such. He tried to keep questions her way so that she could talk away and he could feel socially awkward in silence instead.  
“This is our second year. High School isn't that bad. It's just school. Unless you do something weird it's pretty easy to just blend in if that's what you like,” she explained as if Norman had told her about his plan. “But then what fun is that? Better just do your thing, get friends and have fun. Unlike Captain Buzzkill here I have a talent for getting friends.” Seemed legit. Though Dipper had seemed like a lot of fun earlier that day, his sister was a lot easier to talk to. She didn't seem bothered at all with Norman's nervousness. At the end of the conversation he felt pretty cool with it all.  
As they were chatting along Dipper suddenly stood up. Both Mabel and Norman stopped their conversation and watched him. His stare was directed on the opposite side of the room. With quick movements he picked up his tray and got a move on. Mabel sighed as she watched him hurry away. Norman just wondered why he was in such a hurry. He didn't ask though. But it was killing him. He kept that from Mabel. Why? No idea.  
“Anyway, we should probably also get going,” she said with a lopsided smile. “But hey! If you ever need anyone to eat lunch with you can count on us. And don't mind Dipper.”  
“He seems tricky.” Norman hoped that wasn't offensive to say about her brother.  
“Tricky? More like the opposite. He's super simple.” Mabel gestured something with her hands. Looked like a box or something. “He just doesn't pay much extra attention to things. He's been crushing on the same girl for ages, even though it's a lost call. He's super smart and has really awesome grades. If he wants something he'll get it done. He's got all these interests but he's just not very interested in sharing it with anyone. He's always had me to be a friend and as I said earlier he kind of borrows my friends. We hang out all together and well... he thinks he doesn't need more.”  
Wow. Okay. That was a lot of facts at once. Norman didn't really know what to say. Or wait, he did.  
“He seemed like a really funny guy earlier. He was making an impression of Mr. Jones earlier. That's why I approached you.”  
Mabel burst out laughing. Norman didn't really expect it and waited patiently for her to calm down and explain. It took an awkward amount of time.  
“No, see, that was... Oh dear, we were right outside the classroom back then. We had this bet because Coraline didn't think Dipper had the courage to make a scene or something. I'm so proud he really did it!”  
So that was Dipper Pines. Apparently a pretty simple guy but for Norman he felt really hard to figure out. Talking to Norman in the classroom hadn't been part of the dare, right? So why had it been so awkward during lunch? At least he had brought Norman and Mabel together. His first friend in High School! She had made that clear just as they separated outside of the cafeteria.  
“See you later, friend!”  
Norman felt ridiculously happy for that simple comment. The rest of the day was a little easier to get through now that he had gotten some confirmation. Relaxing during lunch had been a big deal.  
-  
“So how was first day in school?” Sandra Babcock asked as she pushed her son’s door open. He was lying in bed, reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He peeked over the edge of the book to meet his mother’s gentle blue eyes.  
“It was okay.” He turned back to his book.  
“Did you get any friends?” his mother asked as she took a few steps into the room, wrapping her hands together.  
“Maybe.”  
There was a silence of surprise. Norman got curious and had to look at his mother once more as she stood fidgeting with her hands and widened eyes. When she saw her son looking at her she slowly softened and smiled at him.  
“That’s great, Norman!” There was still surprise filling the room. “Tell me about it.”  
In all honesty, he only wanted to read his book. Still, it couldn't be helped. He sat up in his bed so he could face his mother who was still smiling his way. He kept a finger between the pages to keep track of where he was.  
“I sat with them at lunch.”  
“Them?”  
“A pair of twins. They’re a year older than me.” He didn't bother telling her that he'd only befriended one of them. If he did, Sandra would only ask why.  
“That’s great,” his mother repeated as she walked over to the bed and sat down. “Soon you’ll be having the time of your life.”  
“It’s okay, mom. You don’t have to worry about me. I can handle it.”  
His mother seemed surprised again, but now more in a worried than pleased manner. Her hand went up to her son’s shoulder and she held it warmly. He leaned against her as she gave him half a hug and stroked his hair, reminding him of how Dipper had done the same earlier that day.  
“Just remember that you can always rely on me, Norman. If it gets hard, don’t hesitate. Just tell me.”  
His mother kissed his forehead before leaving the room to get dinner ready. Norman fell down on the bed with a sigh and stared up the ceiling. He heard a thump but didn’t really care about what it was. The issue with his parents had never bothered him before, but the way that she had said “me” and not “us” hadn’t happened before. Norman closed his eyes, trying to repress the bad feeling that was crawling up his back.  
“It’s okay,” he said to himself. “It will be okay.”


End file.
